Electrical power supplies are widely used in daily activities. Each of a refrigerator, a television, a VCR, a computer, a computer peripheral, etc., requires electrical power supplies. Depending on the needs of each of these appliances, the consumed power varies in different modes of operation. For example, a computer in a "power saved" mode or a camcorder in a "standby" mode does not draw as much current as in an operational mode. Similarly, a computer disk drive generally demands a current higher than normal to spin up its motor in a startup mode. To properly manage the power, many approaches require that an operating system include information and intelligence to determine the startup time so that the system power may then be rationed to other devices and thus reserved for the disk drive. Such approaches may also require an additional power supply to be used when the high power is needed. However, a power management system both by itself and with additional power supplies is costly and adds undesirable complexity to the system. Consequently, it is clearly desirable that mechanisms be provided to solve the above deficiencies.